Table of Contents
What caused the Great Purge in the Soviet Union?
Motives for the Great Purge. Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin, head of the Bolshevik party, died in 1924. Stalin had to fight his way to political succession, but ultimately declared himself dictator in 1929. Upon Stalin’s rise to power, some members of the former Bolshevik party began to question his authority.
How many people were sentenced to death in the purge?
Sentenced To Death In Stalin’s Great Purge. No one knows for sure how many people were murdered during Stalin’s Great Purge, but estimates put the figure at more than 1 million.
Who was Yezhov in the Great Purge?
Yezhov. Yezhovchina (the Yezhov phenomenon, the Yezhov’s doing) was the most intense period of the Great Purge and it lasted from 1937 to 1938. At the time Yezhov was the head of NKVD. He was only five feet tall, which led to the nicknames The Poison Dwarf or The Bloody Dwarf. Yezhov’s predecessor, Genrikh Yagoda,…
Who was the head of the Soviet secret police?
Beria was brought to Moscow in 1938 as the deputy to Nikolay Yezhov, head of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police. Yezhov was apparently arrested and shot on Stalin’s orders, and Beria became head of the secret police (1938–53).
Was Stalin’s purge of potential challengers to his power a purge?
In this way, the military purge was not a targeted removal of potential challengers to Stalin’s power, but instead a manifestation of the dictator’s worldview and his tendency to lash out at imaginary ‘enemies’.
What was the fifth column in the Great Purge?
Fifth Column. Stalin used terms, such as “fifth column,” “enemy of the people” and “saboteurs” to describe those who were sought out during the Great Purge. The killing and imprisonment started with members of the Bolshevik party, political officials and military members.
What was the Great Purge?
The Great Purge, also known as the “Great Terror,” was a brutal political campaign led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat.